抄録
Metastatic tumors to the head and neck from distant primary tumors are rare. Very few cases of metastatic tonsillar tumor have been reported in the literature, and most of them originated in the lung, kidney, skin, or stomach. We treated a patient with pancreatic cancer which had metastasized to the palatine and lingual tonsils. A 57-year-old male complained of sore throat and a feeling of foreign body in the pharynx after treatment for a lung tumor. The right palatine and lingual tonsils were coated with a dirty furlike covering. Biopsy showed an undifferentiated carcinoma. The tumor disappeared completely after radiation treatment, but he developed liver damage and obstructive jaundice caused by para-aortic lymph node swelling. Jaundice disappeared after PTCD (percutaneous transhepatic cholangio drainage) and radiation to the abdomen, but he died 2 months later of peritonitis carcinomatosa. Autopsy revealed primary pancreatic undifferentiated carcinoma which had metastasized to the lung and tonsils.
As far as we are aware, this is the first report in Japan of metastasis to the tonsils from a primary pancreatic tumor. The clinical aspects of metastatic tonsillar tumor and a possible mechanism of the metastatic processes are discussed.
